Thanks To Lindsey
by AngelCSI
Summary: GSR - Grissom has a bewildering conversation with Catherine. Response to an Unbound Weekly Improve challenge.


Author's note:  Wow – this is addictive.  This is in response to this week's Unbound Weekly Improv challenge, where first and last lines are provided.  None of the characters belong to me (darn it!)  I just borrowed them for a few pages.  Please don't sue me!

**"Wetting your pants can give you that same feeling," Catherine noted.**

Grissom tore his gaze from the stack of papers on his desk to look at the redhead framed in his doorway.  Instead of her usual shirt and slacks, she wore a full length green velvet gown and some sort of golden crown.  He shook his head, trying to make sense of what he had heard and was now seeing.

"What?!"

"You know - humiliation, panic, wanting to run away."  Clearly lost in remembrance now, Catherine continued.  "Lindsey would get so embarrassed toward the end of her potty training, when she would slip up and have an accident.  I always felt so sorry for the kid."

'Okay,' he thought, 'I'm trained to solve puzzles – I can figure this out.'  Grissom reviewed his last conversation with Catherine.  She had called him less than an hour ago saying that Lindsey's party had run long and that she and Sara were on their way in.  He had no idea how Catherine had conned Sara into helping out at a child's costume party, but at least it explained the outfit she now wore.  As for the strange commentary, he still had no clue.

"Did you hit your head on the way in or something?" he asked bemusedly. 

"The point is that she survived embarrassing herself, and you will, too." Catherine seemed to snap her out of her potty training nostalgia, but her reply didn't help much.  In a quick change of subject, she continued  "Come on and hand out assignments so I can get out of this get-up."

"I believe I'm running behind on assignments because of you and that get-up," he snapped back, but she had already disappeared down the corridor.

He gathered the sheets of paperwork that he needed and headed down the hall, still trying to make sense of the conversation they had just had.  Grissom mentally reviewed the exchange, looking for some meaning he had previously missed.  'Wetting your pants, potty training, party, Sara.'  At the last thought, a small smile pulled at his lips and his thoughts strayed from the current puzzle to one that was more complex.  He had long ago given up on ever figuring Sara out, but still enjoyed finding clues to what made her tick.  So preoccupied was he that he didn't even notice the teasing banter coming from the breakroom.

"Meow!" came the familiar southern drawl of Nick Stokes.  "Remind me again why they needed Halle Berry?"

"Just shut up and see if you can find anyone who has a spare coverall," Sara shot back archly.  "There is no way I'm working a shift like this!"

Grissom turned the corner and felt his jaw drop to his chest.  Before him stood an angry Sara Sidle, obviously daring Nick and Warrick to continue kidding her about her costume.

It was as though some playful god had seen all his pre-pubescent, comic-book induced fantasies and decided to combine them with his more recent, adult ones.  He took in the black high heels that served to highlight her trim ankles and spandex-clad calves.  Her legs seemed endless as he followed them upwards, until his attention was consumed by the furry black tail that peaked out from behind a beautifully rounded posterior.  One hand rested on her gently flared hip, with dangerously curved red nails the only contrast to the all black suit that hugged her body.  Some distant part of his brain registered that there was no way she could be hiding underwear under that outfit as his eyes roamed from her narrow waist, up her to her rib cage and on to . . .

"Holy Mother of God!"

The sudden silence that crashed down made him realize that he had spoken – shouted, actually – those words aloud.  His eyes snapped to meet Sara's, and he only distantly noted the black and pink ears peaking from her warm brown hair.  He could feel the blood suffuse the skin of his neck as it climbed to his face.

"I tried to warn him," Catherine said, with a smirk.  Her comment seemed to release everyone from their stunned paralysis.  They awkwardly seated themselves around the break table, none of them acknowledging the electric tension that Grissom's outburst had brought to the room.  Grissom made a point of seating himself near the guys and distantly wondered how he would pull his foot out of his mouth this time.

"I'm sorry about that," Sara offered feebly.  "It was Lindsey's birthday party, and she wanted to pick the outfits.  She decided Catherine made a good Princess Fiona because of the hair and, well, she really wanted Catwoman at her party, too."  Her voice trailed off into the oppressive silence.

In a voice not meant to carry, Grissom said "I've got to remember to get Lindsey a really big present this year."  
  
**Warrick started laughing.**


End file.
